How to Handcraft a Fine Art Photograph

HandCrafting a Fine Art Photograph

Making a great fine art photograph is a lot easier if you have a pretty good idea where you’re headed before you start. That means invoking the dreaded word “vision”. How do you tap into that? Where do you even begin?

To answer this, I’m going to have to get a little “out there” on you for a moment. We live in a world where everything is labeled and defined, where “understanding” anything means breaking it down into its various pieces and processes. We all already know that the creative process is the exact opposite of that. So, here’s an exercise for you:

Rather than trying to present what something “is” in your photos, present it in terms of “what it’s like”. Think in terms of analogy and metaphor. What you’ll end up with is a photo about an idea instead of a photo about a thing, and that’s powerful! Here’s how: You’re getting ready to photograph The Washington Monument.

What does it remind you of?
What is it about that monument on that day that attracts you?

Maybe you’ll think “this reminds me of reaching up to touch the heavens.” Make your photo about that. Maybe the seascape after a storm reminds you of power and fury. Shoot that instead of sand and water and the rule of thirds. Maybe the canyon you’re shooting reminds you of the mythical underworld. Great! Grab onto all the associations that come with that idea and shoot that.

This is what I call “Imaginal Thinking” and it frees you from the constraints of making the same photograph made by everyone else. Try it and see what you come up with!

Jim Welninski is a teaching artist and fine art photographer living and working in Chicago. He emphasizes vision and imagination over style and technique and has won many international awards for his work. He also teaches photography in the classroom at Chicago Photography Classes. Many of his students are award-winning photographer themselves.

Jim has a background in professional media production and has worked as an animator, video editor, sound mixer, and dialog editor. He is also a mediocre amateur musician. He lives just outside Chicago with his cat, Maddy, who allows him to live with her.

A completely new look at PS CC! I could watch this ten tines and still be learning new stuff for photographers about PS, one of the best things you have ever posted!! Thanks so much, Blake. Jim Welninski is a definite winner

Jim, nice rendering of contrast et. al. The thing that strikes me is the ice/ glass water look that mimics time extension and the static look of the clouds that contradict this water effect. I think Blake showed an example on how to add a blown cloud look into a photograph in the past. I believe that type of effect would have drilled the viewers eyes into that dreamy state of awhhhh.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. You raise a good point and I should have addressed it in the video. I didn’t alter the clouds because I like the texture and mood they provide. The water, on the other hand, I found distracting. I also like the surreal, Imaginal mood the two of them create together. When I’m making a photograph, I’m less concerned about the laws of physics than I am about my imagination and the inner experience I had at the shoot. I’d make water flow uphill if it would help me express my vision! Thanks and I hope this helps.

thanks for this super tuto Jim,
I have two questions :
– I have ZSE4. not yet palette. what is the difference in black and white between palette and ZSE ? i think they are similar with color modifier and gradient map.
– like you i am more familiar with channel mixer than gradient map for b&w. but i don’t understand why you removed color modifier which could be useful to accentuate some deep blue,…and kept gradient map. why cascading two black and white conversions ?

Hi Marc,
Thanks for taking the time to write. The difference between way the two panels handle black and white is huge. The b/w conversion in ZSE separates the color and tone of your image during the conversion. This gives you awesome flexibility over the tonal quality of your b/w result. The effects in PE are just that: they are finishing effects that give you glow and tone compression options. Both are amazing.
Regarding my b/w conversion method, the black and white adjustment layer still sees the color in your image as long as it is underneath the gradient map in the layer stack. It operates exactly as you would expect. It can still be used to adjust the darkness or lightness of any color. Putting the gradient map on top of it dramatically increases your options with regard to tone because you can only push the colors in your image so far before they max out. In this application, the gradient map deals with tone only. By the time it sees the image the color is already gone. So now you’re dealing with black, white, and gray and you can push those much further. Again, tone and color are separated in the conversion, giving you greater control over the result. As far as me swapping out the hue/saturation layer, it’s just a personal preference. I find the b/w adjustment simpler and at my age, my little brain can only handle so much. 😎

A pleasure to watch and learn. I had not heard of Jim’s work and teaching but it quickly becomes apparent his artistry and expertise as a photographer. Amateurs like myself are so privileged to have the help of such top-flight photographers. He nails it in the intro by mentioning having the end result vision. It’s nice to have that stamped in my brain before I pick up my camera!

Oh wow! Watched it twice already. What a stroke of genius to add to this already helpful site. Thank you! As a (very) old guy, Ive really been struggling to get to grips with good quality post. This has been truly benefical.

Jim: This was amazing. At the outset, I thought this was an OK image but there must be a good reason why you chose to do it. And at the end I was totally blown away at your artistic brilliance. I so agree with your vision to express, well, your vision. And your creative use of masks and curves and more masks and curves made me realize that I will be watching this video several times more for it to sink in. Thanks for this!

Jim: At minutes 21:46 and the B&W conversion, the image was pretty much done, whereas I would have gone with the Gradient Map adjustment layer you pushed the image even further. The Green color tint was a nice touch. Excellent.